The Vegetarian Society v Scott [2013] EWHC 4097 (Ch)
April 2014 #138This was a contentious probate action against all five of the wills of a schizophrenic testator. While he had benefitted from a stable and conventional childhood, the deceased had sustained serious injuries at the age of nineteen in a serious bicycle accident. He soon after succumbed to the symptoms of severe schizophrenia and logical thought disorder, from which he suffered for the remainder of his lifetime. His modes of living were unconventional. He lived alone on the fringes of society, and despite his considerable wealth, he lived in basic, if not squalid conditions. While it was ac...
Wagstaff & anr v HMRC [2014] UKFTT 43 (TC)
April 2014 #138During 1990 Mr Wagstaff’s mother (Barbara) bought a flat for herself to live in (the flat). On 6 January 1996 she sold the flat to the appellants for £45,000. It was agreed that this was an arm’s length price. The sale was subject to the terms of an agreement of the same date (the agreement). The agreement provided that Barbara was entitled to continue to live at the flat at no cost until her death or remarriage, subject to a payment of £5,000.
Barbara continued to occupy the property until August 2005 when an accident meant she could no longer do so. After some time ...
Behague v HMRC [2013] UKFTT 596 (TC)
March 2014 #137HMRC opened an enquiry into Mr Behague’s (the appellant) self-assessment return and issued a notice to the appellant under para 1 of sch 36 of the Finance Act 2008. This notice requested the provision, to HMRC, of a client engagement letter and a report issued to the appellant by his solicitors. The appellant appealed this notice and claimed legal professional privilege (LLP) applied to the documents.
HMRC accepted that communications between a solicitor and his client were privileged to the extent they related to the giving or obtaining of legal advice, however HMRC argued...
Bentine v Bentine [2013] EWHC 3098 (Ch)
March 2014 #137This appeal concerned the one-fifths rule contained in s70 of the Solicitors Act 1974. That rule provides that if a solicitor’s costs bill is reduced by more than one-fifth at detailed assessment, the costs of that assessment will be borne by that solicitor. If there are special circumstances, the rule may be disapplied under s70 (10) of the Act.
The original action was a claim issued in the Central London County Court by a mother against her daughter, Miss Bentine, for the court to determine their respective equitable interests in certain property. Miss Bentine was initial...
Christofides v Seddon & ors 1CL10658
March 2014 #137Marula Christofides died on 14 May 2009 having made a will on 22 October 2008 leaving her worldwide residuary estate between her son Andreas, her two daughters Panayiota and Joanna and her granddaughter Benita.
Probate was granted in May 2010 on a net UK estate of £308,253 with a property in London valued then at £300,000 but at the time of trial worth £420,000. The deceased owned two areas of land in Cyprus – one with a house worth €280,000 and one in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus owned by the deceased’s husband. His Honour Judge Hand eventually settled on £125,000 as t...
CR v MZ & ors [2013] EWHC 295 (Fam)
March 2014 #137Previously MZ, the husband (H) and CR, his wife (W) had lived in West Africa. Initially H’s family had been against the marriage but after two children were born to the couple the wife was fully accepted. In late 2005 H and W bought their first flat, in Belgravia (Flat A) for a total cost of £1.62m. The deposit of £155,000 was provided by FZ, H’s father (F), as well as a further £217,000 towards the purchase. The balance came by way of mortgage of £1.24m, which was guaranteed by both H and F. The property was purchased in the name of COG Limited, a company which was set up by...
Ham v Ham & ors [2013] EWCA Civ 1301
March 2014 #137The respondents, who had been in a partnership together, were the owners of the land on which their farming business was carried on, together with buildings, live and dead stock, farm machinery and other assets. The accounts recorded that the business was financed by the balance standing to the credit of their capital account with the land recorded year after year at book value. The appellant was bought into the partnership by the respondents on 1 October 1997 and their respective rights and obligations were set out in a partnership deed dated 15 December 1997 (the agreement). The accoun...
Holden-Hindley & ors v Holden-Hindley & anr [2013] EWHC 3053 (Ch)
March 2014 #137The trustees of two family settlements applied to the court for authorisation of action that they proposed to take. David Holden-Hindley created the No 7 Settlement in 1973 for the benefit of his children, issue, his sister-in-law and her children and his sister Doreen Hindley and her children and issue. His brother Airlie set up a similar trust the No 9 Settlement in 1975 but only his children and those of his sister Doreen were beneficiaries. In both settlements illegitimate children were excluded.
In 1983 two deeds of appointments were made under the two settlements for the ben...
Re Jewell; Fox & anr v Jewell & ors [2013] EWCA Civ 1152
March 2014 #137A probate claim was brought in respect of the will of the aforesaid deceased for testamentary incapacity; want of knowledge and approval; rectification; a kind of mutual wills claim and in proprietary estoppel. HHJ McCahill QC held that the parties should be required to deal with each of the wills issues in comparatively short statements, without going back over the decades of family history, which would be necessary for a proprietary estoppel claim. He said that he was persuaded that there was a proper role for a trial of preliminary issues, with the second trial, if necessary, dea...
Mariner v HMRC [2013] UKFTT 657 (TC)
March 2014 #137Income tax;careless or negligent completion of income tax return;reliance on a professional advisor;reasonable excuse for careless or negligent completion of return.
Elizabeth Mariner (the appellant) instructed a professional tax advisor to complete and file her 2011 income tax return with HMRC. She was making losses on a let property. The return set these losses against her income from other sources. HMRC did not accept that the losses could be ‘set-off’ in this way. A penalty for underpaid tax as the result of the careless or negligent completion of a return was issu...